The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-11-30

only appropriate for children of fifteen.
II children are kept in school,
and studying from nine to three
o'clock, no home study except music ought to
enough for any child The rest OF the day
ought to be devoted to recreation and pure
| fun But you cannot begin too early the
moral culture Of child or on too COM
plete scale. You can look back
upon your own life and remember
upon you at five or six years Of age. Oh,
that child does not sit so silent during your
conversation not to be influenced byit. You
| say he does not understand. Although much Of
your phraseology is beyond his grasp, he is
| gathering up from your talk influences which
| will effect his immortal destiny. From
the question he asks you long afterward
| you find he understood all about what
you were saying. You think the child does
| not appreciate that beautiful cloud, but its
most delicate lines are reflected into the very
| depths Of the youthful nature, and a score Of
years from now you will sec the shadow OF
that cloud in the tastes and refnements de-
veloped. The song with which you sing
that child to sleep will echo through all
arches Of heaven. I think that often the first
seven years of child's life decides whether it
shall be irascible, waspish, rude, false, hypo-
critical, or gentle, truthful, frank, obedient,
honest and Christian. The present generation
of men will pass OFF very much as they
a n0T the hsnEh Fsns rne InS G4 IS sas sEsa
ards die drunkards, thieves die thieves,
libertines die libertines. Therefore to the
youth we turn. You fill the bushel measure
with good corn, and there will be no room for
husks Glorious Alfred Goodman was con-
verted at ten years OF age. At Car
Isle, Pennsylvania, during the progress
~ liorfo In fho or icf
Church. while many wera keeling at the foot
Of the altar, this boy knelt in a corner OF the
church all by himself aud said: precious
Saviour, thou art saving others, 0, wilt thou
not save mei" A Presbyterian elder knelt
beside him and led him into the light. En-
throned Alfred Goodman! Tell me from the
skies, were you converted s. too early, But IT
overpowered by the hosannahs Of
the tens Of thousands who were brought to
Goi through his ministry. Isaac Watts, the
great Christian poet, was converted at nine
years of age Robert Hall, the great Baptist
evangelist, was converted at twelve years Of
age. Jonathan Edwards, the greatest Of
American logicians, was converted at seven
years Of age.
Oh for one generation Of holy men and
women. Shall it be the ne1tl Fathers and
mothers, you, under God, are to decide
whether from your families shall 60 forth
towards, inebriates. counterfeiters, bias
phemers, and whether there shall be those
bearing your image and carrying. your
name fostering in the low haunts Of vice,
the midnight Of their lives horrid
with long howl Of ruin; or whether
from your family altars shall come the
Christians, the reformers, the teachers, the
ministers Of Christ, the comforters Of the
troubled, the healers Of the sick, the enacters
of good laws, the founders Of charitable in
stitutions. and great many who shall in the
humber sphere Of toll and usefulness serve
God and the best interests Of the human race
You cannot as parents shirk the response
bility. God has charged you with q mission,
and all the thrones Of heaven are waiting to
see whether you will do your duty. We
must not forget that it is not 80 much what
we teach our children as what we are in their
presence We wish them to be better than
will only be reproductions Of our
own character. German literature has
much to say Of the spectre of
Brocken." Among those mountains travellers
in certain conditions Of the atmosphere see
themselves copied on gigantic scale in the
clouds, At first the travellers do not realize
that it is themselves on larger SCALE When
ster spectre does the same, and with such en-
largement Of proportions that the scene is
most exciting, and thousands have gone to
that place Just to behold the spectre
Of Brocken. The probability is that some OF
our faults, which we consider small and IN
significant, if we do not put an end to them
will be copied on larger scale in the lives OF
our children. and perhaps dilated and exag-
gerated into spectral proportions. You need
not 60 as far off as the Broken to see tnat
process The first thing in Importance in the
education Of our children is to make ourselves,
by the grace OF God, fit examples to be
copied. The day will come when you must
confront that child, not in the church pew on
calm Sabbath, but amid the CONSERVATION
of the rising dead, and the flying heavens,
and burning world. From your side that
son or daughter, bone of your bone, heart
of your heart, the fathers brow his
brow, the mothers eye his eye, shall
60 forth to an eternal destiny. What
will be your joy if at last you hear their
feet in the same golden ighway ana near
their voices in the same rapturous song, IL.
lustrations while the eternal ages last, OF
what faithful parent could, under God, ac-
eomplish. l was reading Of mother VINO,
dying, had all her children about her, and
took each one OF them by the hand, and asked
them to meet her in heaven, and with
tears and sobs such as those only know
a good old mother, they all promised.
But there was q young man Of nineteen who
had Eeen very wild and reckless, and hard,
and proud, and when she took his hand she
suid: Now, my boy, want you to promise
me before die, that you will become Chris
tian and meet me in heaven" The young man
made no answer, for there was so much for him
to give up if he made and kept such a promise.
But the aged mother persisted in saying:
'sYou won't deny Inc that before l go, will youi
This parting must not be forever Tell me
now you will serve God and meet me in the
land where there is no parting" QuakinS
with emotion he stood, making up his mind
and hating and hestatiny, but at last his stub
bornness Yielded and he threw his arms around
his mother neck and said: eyes, mother;
will, will" And as he finished the last
word OF his promise her spirit ascended.. l
thank God the young man kept his promise.
Yes, he kept it. May God give ali mothers
and fathers the gladness Of their chlldrens
salvation.
For all who are trying to do their duty
as parents, quote the tremendous passage:
"Train up child in the way in which he
should 20, and when he is old he will not de-
part from it." If through good discipline
and prayer, and godly example,
you are acting upon that child,
you have the right to expect
him to grow up virtuous And how many
tears OF joy you will shed when you see your
child honorable, and just, and truthful, and
Christian, and successful-a holy man
woman in world of frivolous preten-
sion. When you come to die they
will gather to bless your last hours.
They will push back the white locks on your
cold forehead and say: "What good father
| he always was to mel" They will fold your
hands peacefully and say: "Dear motherl
She is gone. Her troubles are all over. Don't